Alex stood in the center of the bridge, “All right, Mr. Mear… I want real-time ship updates. Commander Veva and I will run sensor sweeps as we descend. I want every drop of information we can get. Mr. Carter…”

“I make sure we don’t die and get us there in the biggest piece possible,” Logan said from the main console. “Got it.”

Alex stood a beat. This part of the mission was always the worst. “Red alert, shields up.” The alert klaxon sounded, and the bridge lit up with red lighting. Alex took his seat next to Tani. He took a deep breath and released it. “Mr. Carter, take us in.”

Logan’s fingers flew across the console. “Setting a course for the beta docking port on the KB module. Bearing 42 Mark 347, dropping speed to quarter impulse.” The ship dipped down, the KB module displaying on the view screen.

The bridge shuttered briefly. 

“Magnetic flare strike to the aft hull, minimal damage,” Priam reported.

“Just a little handshake. We see you, sweetheart,” Logan replied with a smile. “Ninety seconds to the target.”

The module drew closer, another shutter on the bridge.

“Another flare to starboard, shields at full.”

“All right, sweetheart, we get it… You’re not a fan of first dates,” Logan said. “Adjusting heading to Bearing 35 Mark 336 to compensate for flares. Increasing speed to three-quarter impulse.” He typed commands in his console. “The quicker we’re out of this thing, the better.”

The bridge shuttered again, and the lights flickered for a few seconds. An alert went off on Priam’s console. “Direct hit to the port nacelle, adjusting power to compensate.”

“How bad is it?” Alex shouted over the alert.

“It’ll reduce our warp speed until I can look at it, but the coil is still online.”

Alex nodded and pulled up the ship’s status, “The flare hit was almost dead center of the nacelle.”

“Do you think it’s intentional?” Tani asked.

“I’m not sure,” Alex rubbed his chin. “There’s not a pattern with the flares otherwise. Let’s hope it was a lucky shot.”

“Ten seconds to the target, switching to docking thrusters,” Logan reported.

On the view screen, the support corridor of the KB module passed overhead of the ship. The ship turned, the docking port appearing on the starboard side.

“Initiating docking procedures,” Logan typed commands in his console.

“Do you see that?” Alex pointed to the sensor display.

“Yeah, that wasn’t lost on me either,” Tani said. “The flares stopped.”

“Coincidence is starting to become suspicion,” Alex let the words hang.

A loud clang reverberated throughout the ship. “Docking complete.”

“Keep the ship on yellow alert. I want things hot in case things go south.”

Tani gave Alex an apprehensive look.

“It’s just in case.” Alex stood up and took a defensive pose, “Let’s get dressed to impress.”

The crew stood in the airlock space, in EVA suits and holding compression rifles. Priam pushed the button to open the connecting airlock. Nothing.

“Not altogether surprising,” Tani said. “I would’ve been impressed if it did work.”

Priam shouldered his rifle and opened his tricorder. He typed commands and, after a series of beeps and one loud clang, spoke, “That should do it.”

“Well, let’s go do some of that bolding going stuff,” Alex said, nodding to Priam.

Priam pushed the button, and the airlock doors whooshed open. The crew aimed their rifles at the door and were met with emptiness.

“We all have our objectives, keep open comms.” The team activated their wrist lights. “It’s time to meet the locals,” Alex said, stepping through the doorway. The rest of the crew followed, one by one, being swallowed up by the darkness.